Week 66

Surprises!

This last week was full of surprises. Probably the biggest one, happened on Saturday night. We were sitting in our apartment when the zone leaders called and told me I was moving on Monday! There isn't even a normal transfer this week!  It is just a mini transfer where, usually, only five or six missionaries move. I was a little upset about having to leave Heng Chun, but I am willing. I was told I am moving to Zhang Hua, which is a big city underneath Taizhong (I am moving all the way back up north again). I am serving in Zhang Hua city. 

Then the next surprise came on Sunday. We woke up and went outside and we were hit with a wall of cold! Even though I was serving in Heng Chun, the hottest place in Taiwan, it was freezing cold outside! Then all that Sunday and this morning we have had super cold weather! It is so crazy. Apparently it snowed in Taibei (the first time in forever, like 50 years or so). So everyone here is freaking out because they have never even seen snow before and then I was freaking out because I moved up to Zhang hua which is way more north and the more north you go the colder it gets. But I will endure. It still isn't as cold as a Utah winter.

Then the next surprise came when I got to Zhang Hua. My new companion is named Elder Gosser and one of the first things he said to me was "This isn't anything like a Payson winter."  I was like, "What did you just say?" and he was like "I am from Payson too."  I don't know how he found out I was from Payson, but apparently it is a pretty small world. He went to Salem High School, so we never met. But he does know a lot of people I know, including Nate Oliver. 

Another nice surprise is that Elder Jensen (who served in the same four man as me in Fengyuan) is also in this district! I am so excited to serve with him! I loved him when we served together in Fengyuan. So although this is a new place, I think I will get used to it in no time.

This last week in Heng Chun was a good one. We had 3 new investigators meet with us the night before I left and at least one of them seems like a golden investigator.  So I am a little sad about that, but I am excited to meet the people in Zhang Hua and learn how to be a missionary in a bigger city.

We also got to watch the mission broadcast this last week, where the missionary board members did a broadcast to all missionaries in the world. It was such an uplifting experience! I learned so many things I wish I would have known earlier in my mission! But I guess that is just how life works. 

I love you guys! 

Elder Quist

Week 65

Too Many Miracles

This last week was full of miracles! I have recently been focusing on seeing the hand of the Lord in our work. I know He guides us everyday, but sometimes it's hard to see Him when things aren't going well and you are getting rejected or when everything seems to go wrong. I remember there was a time in FengYuan a couple of months ago when we had 9 lessons scheduled in one day. However, every scheduled lesson fell through that day. I remember we decided to go to the 7-11 and make calls. While there, we met 4 high school students who all seemed to have real interest in the church and we even later found out that one of them was a missing less-active from our ward. I left the area soon after that experience, so I don't know what happened to those high school students, but I know the Lord wanted us to talk to them that day. It truly was His will for us to get stood up all day so that we could come across and meet those kids that day. Sometimes it's hard to see His hand in the work, but if we are obedient and try our best, we can have confidence that what does happen in our life is His will and everything will work out. I know this to be true.

This last week we had some similar experiences. While riding down the street on Saturday afternoon, we saw a mother and son walking down the street. As we rode past, we waved to them and they enthusiastically waved back (which usually doesn't happen), so as we rode us to the next red light, we acted like we were waiting for the light to turn as we waited for them to walk up behind us. As they came up to us, we started to talk to them and they invited us to their house to drink some water. We told them we were on our way to visit other people, but if it didn't go through (which it didn't) we would head over to their house. As we rode down to where they said their house was, we were surprised when we came across a mansion! We knocked on the door and sure enough the lady whom we had contacted on the street opened the door. She welcomed us in and we were able to meet her whole family! She has 3 kids, the youngest one is 17 years old. She told us we were welcome back whenever we wanted and we hope we can help this family come closer to Christ!

Also this week we had some more lessons that didn't go through. We were supposed to meet with 3 people out in our secondary area one day and instead of meeting with 3 of them when we went out there, we only met with one. The other two stood us up. So we road back early to Heng Chun, and as soon as we got there we were able to talk to a guy working at a bike shop on the side of the street. He told us he had met with Christians before and he was really interested in the things we taught. It was a miracle!

I learned this week that God knows a lot more than we do. If we do what we are supposed to, He will provide the path we are supposed to take (even if sometimes it seems like the wrong path or the less happy path or the path with more challenges). 

I love this mission and I love you guys, 

Elder Quist

Week 64

Adversity: The Best Teacher

This week we saw a lot of blessings, but, as always, we also saw a lot of trials. 

We have a lot of investigators progressively working towards baptism! However, there are also obstacles to overcome and trials that we must face. I recently read that your mission is like a "mini life."  And I do believe that the Lord lets you learn a lot of lessons on your mission in order to prepare you for tests that you will have to face throughout your life.

For example, our investigator, Larry, has not contacted us in about a week. Although this is pretty common for him (not contacting us), it has been an especially long amount of time. However, I keep feeling the urge to keep trying and to not give up on him.There is a big conflict I go through every time we try to get a hold of him or send him a text. I feel like we should stop trying and maybe give him time, but then I have a feeling that I should keep going and keep trying. A part of me feels like it is for nothing, but the other part of me has enough hope that I keep trying. I just always feel like there is something special about him, and it"s important that we keep trying with him. There is a chance that I will never see him again, but I think more important than that is if I am willing to follow the promptings I am receiving. I know the Lord has a plan for all of His children.

Another problem is Sister Lin. She is experiencing some opposition and has settled with getting baptized in half a year. However, from this experience I learned a different lesson. After she told us she wanted to wait, we invited her to simply continue to read and to pray and to come to church. After church yesterday, we approached her and asked her if she had any change of heart. Although she still wanted to wait, she told us that she has recently felt an increase of love and encouragement from God. She is starting to really desire to return and live in God's presence. A lesson I learned is that we are just missionaries; the person who does the real converting is the Holy Ghost. We do our part, then we need to have faith that God will do His part.

I don't think being a missionary is very easy. It is a fun time and it is a happy time, but it is also full of trials and lessons that must be learned. I am so grateful I was able to come out on my mission. This is like the MTC for the rest of my life. I feel like I have learned so much about the gospel and the importance of it, and also grown a lot myself. I have seen God change my very desires. I hope I can use the rest of the time I have on my mission to really help the people I serve here in Taiwan. 

Pray for me! Pray for the people of Taiwan! 

I love you guys!

Elder Quist

Week 63

I can't believe this is the last year of my mission! Time is going by too fast. I loved the year 2015. I experienced some of the greatest joy I have ever experienced, I also learned some of my life's most powerful lessons in the year 2015. I am excited for all the adventures and joys that I will find in the year 2016.

This last week was an exciting start to the year 2016. Because it was the new year, many people had work off, so many of our investigators left town for the weekend. So this last week was kind of slow, but we saw a lot of blessings.

One of the blessings is our investigator Xie, the worker for Sister Huang. He got a call last week that he is leaving for Taizhong this week in order to prepare to be a soldier. So this last week was the last time we got to meet with him. However, this last week he progressed so much! He came to church all three hours and he really felt the spirit. He will get baptized. I don't know when or where, but he will get baptized. We got President Blickenstaff's permission, that if everything works out, he can return here one weekend and be baptized in Heng Chun. That way Sister Huang and the rest of the branch members can attend his baptism. He will move back to Heng Chun in 4 months and work down here as a soldier.

Also, Sister Lin and Monica are getting closer and closer to their baptism dates. They have interviews set tomorrow with Elder Lin! Elder Lin is an elder who lived in my apartment with me in Shalu, so he is coming down here on exchanges with me and then we are going to have baptism interviews. Their baptism date is the 16th of January, so we hope everything goes well with that.

Larry is doing okay. We still haven't met with him, but he has been talking with us almost everyday. Pray that we can find time to meet with him in order to help him.

We still haven't found time to visit the Wang brothers. We went to visit them last weekend, while it was pouring rain, but they were busy and wouldn't let us inside. They also didn't come to church because of rain... 

We are encouraging all our investigators and praying that they find their way. We saw miracles last week, including a less active we had met recently. His name is Brother Dong and he is really willing to start reading, praying and coming to church again. He is also really eager to help us teach our investigators. Also, Sister Huang's daughter returned home from her mission this last week. She wants to come and be in every lesson and she is also super willing to help us in our work in Heng Chun. She is as awesome as her mom!

Things went well this last week. I am glad the holidays are over (for now, Chinese New Year is coming up) because people are always busy during the holidays. I am glad things are going to be back to normal this week.

Pray for the people of Heng Chun. They are a great people and I know with the Lord's help they can become a rock of the gospel of Jesus Christ here in Taiwan.

Love you all,

Elder Quist

We received an email today from an LDS family in California that spent the holidays in Taiwan. They attended services in the branch where Noah is serving and met him and his companion.  They sent this video and picture to us...

https://www.dropbox.com/s/iswdxwmy26o72nw/2015-12-27%2012.24.46%20Elder%20Quist.mov?dl=0